THE INSURGENT RETIREES REMIND US THAT IN ALL HUMAN SOCIETIES, THE ACTIVE SECTOR OF THE POPULATION PRODUCES A SURPLUS TO SUPPORT THE INACTIVE SECTOR ~ Cousin Jonas ~ There is an old tradition in the retirees’ movement in Buenos Aires: the Wednesday march, which gathers at the National Congress building. There are different versions, but it is a tradition that dates back at least to its peak in the 1990s, perhaps with other modalities, days of the week and times, but the meeting point and the call are undoubtedly historical and do not belong to a particular group. However, it is notable that, since last year, one group in particular has been gaining many members: the Jubilados Insurgentes , which was founded by a small group of anarchist retirees and today brings together retirees of different ideological orientations, but all aligned with the movement’s most combative stances and practices. Former members of parties as disparate in their time as the PRT (of Trotskyist origins and later turning to “national Marxism” with armed struggle), the PC and the Peronist Resistance, have united under the banner of an insurgency against the current order of things. And one of the main orders they have come to disrupt is the corporatism of the retirees’ movement and the “groupings” of retirees from the main Argentine Trotskyist parties (each with its own “retirees’ struggle front”). Meeting one of its members, it was impressive to see the process of rejuvenation of comrades who had long been away from any type of activism, and how they became the vanguard of the social struggle against the Milei government. Since last year, the Jubilados Insurgentes and other more combative sectors of the movement (not to romanticise their exclusive protagonism, of course) have been forcing, in a very disciplined manner, every Wednesday, the “hand-to-hand” with the police, who were trying to prevent the old men and women from occupying the streets around Congress, going around the building. For many weeks, it was almost a game; such is the strength of reconnecting with youth. The comrades created small tricks to deceive the police cordon, which avoided repressing the old men in a noticeable way and giving the opposition the photo that they were waiting for, and ended up returning to the block victorious, occupying the streets despite the “anti-picketing” protocol of the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich. Last year, there were usually no more than a hundred people at these marches, always at 3:00 p.m., the time for retirees. The first major change was the time. Due to the harsh summer, and to avoid the deaths of some of the more fragile members, it was decided to change the call to 5:00 p.m. At the beginning of this year, the marches slowly began to fill up with other audiences. The reason was logical: the Jubilados Insurgentes — but not only them — spent the last few months going from struggle to struggle, from assembly to assembly, showing their solidarity and asking for that of those present. It is a dynamic that is only natural for a group that knew how to theorise about “intergenerational exchange”, a Marxist reading of the pension system. This interpretation was developed by them out of a need to fight against the common sense that is deeply rooted in Argentina, which understands that each worker is individually responsible for his or her social security contributions. It is said that a worker has the right to retirement “if he or she has made his or her contributions,” as if it were the worker’s obligation and not the employer’s. And, as if the theft of the contributions that end up in the employer’s pocket were not enough, when the working age ends, the worker is then punished by the State, which does not recognise his or her right to retirement. The Jubilados Insurgentes remind us that, in all human societies, the active sector of the population produces a surplus to support the inactive sector (children, the elderly, people with disabilities, etc.). The social security system is not an individual “savings bank” where, upon retirement, one receives what one has saved, but rather the economically active population supports the economically inactive population as a matter of human solidarity, an inexorable part of the cycle of life to which we are all destined. One of the retirees who always attends the demonstrations is a fan of the small neighbourhood team Chacarita. After being pushed, pepper sprayed and hit with shields so many times, his friends from the fans decided to organise themselves to accompany the retirees on their Wednesday march. The event generated interest and a football sentiment was touched on a much larger scale than the usual Wednesday call. Calls began to appear for fans of several small teams, mainly, to which some union opposition groups also joined. To understand this dynamic, it might be interesting to compare it with the protests against the Macri government’s pension reform in 2017. At that time, there were much larger demonstrations and much more intense popular violence. What was the context? The economic and political foundations of the Kirchnerist government were frayed, which paved the way for Mauricio Macri’s victory as president, but at a time when Kirchnerism was still an important and well-organised political force. In those demonstrations, what was most visible were large columns of political parties and unions. It was still an “old-fashioned” demonstration. Today, the left in general is in decline, but Kirchnerism in particular. It’s not just that the Kirchnerists “disguised themselves” as soccer fans, as one journalist suggested, not without a certain amount of truth. But more than that, the Kirchnerist grammar is no longer effective, and its organisations are either in crisis or fighting among themselves for the crumbs of the movement. Footballism ended up functioning as a “left-wing populist” identity, with the obligatory reference to Maradona when he said that “you have to be really scared not to defend retirees”. It is not clear what will happen next Wednesday. The only thing we know is that many retirees cannot jump the turnstile alone. They will need to be accompanied. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Passa Palavra (machine translation) The post Argentina: Retirees don’t jump turnstiles appeared first on Freedom News.

JAVIER MILEI’S ULTRA-LIBERAL POLICIES HAVE DOUBLED THE PRICES OF MEDICINES AND ESSENTIAL SERVICES, WITH A SHARP DECLINE IN THE VALUE OF PENSIONS ~ Rob Latchford ~ A demonstration by pensioners, supported by football fans and social organisations, in Argentina on Wednesday 12 March ended in violent clashes with the police, the arrest of at least 103 people and 20 injured, one of them seriously. The protest—the most violent in the country since the ultra-liberal Javier Milei took office in December 2023—was the latest in a series of public demonstrations that have been taking place for many years every Wednesday in defence of pensioners who have been suffering a sharp decline in their income and purchasing power. In recent months, the pensioners’ protests have been repressed by the police with tear gas and physical violence. VIOLENT CLASHES The number of participants in the Wednesday protests increased exponentially with the support of organised supporters of thirty soccer teams. The soccer fans adopted a phrase from Argentinian great Diego Maradona in their march – “How could I not defend pensioners? You’d have to be a real coward to not defend pensioners.” Milei has slashed pension payouts as part of a government spending overhaul meant to damp down rampant inflation. But that has come to the detriment of Argentina’s most vulnerable. The riots began in the middle of the afternoon when the protesters, along with social and union organisations, challenged the police lines that were trying to clear the area in front of Congress and Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires. The police used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons against the protesters, many of whom wore their team’s shirts and flags. One white-haired woman held up a shirt that read, “Don’t hit us, we are your parents!” Some threw paving stones and fireworks, while a large police line advanced through the streets. A police car and a motorcycle were set on fire, and another seven vehicles from the Buenos Aires Security Secretariat were vandalised. A photojournalist was hit by a projectile while recording the confrontation. According to data from the Security Secretariat, the local police arrested 89 people, while another 14 were arrested by various federal forces. Bullrich, on Argentina’s hard right, represents the hardest and most right-wing sector of the Together For Change coalition and the Republican Proposal party during both the 2023 Argentine primary and general elections as presidential candidate. Following her defeat in the first round of the general election, she decided to personally support Milei on the second round. Among the 20 injured, at least 10 are police officers with minor injuries, and the rest are civilians, including a man in a serious condition, who suffered a fractured skull as a result of the impact of a tear gas canister thrown in the square in front of the Congress headquarters. Marcela Salto, a student present at the incident, said, “I saw an elderly women being beaten and falling to the ground… people convulsing [due to tear gas] and fainting. What do they want? For someone to die? As a society it is a disgrace.” RISING POVERTY SPARKS OUTRAGE On Wednesday night, after the incidents in Congress and Plaza de Mayo had ended, protesters banged pots and pans in various parts of Buenos Aires, and hundreds of protesters marched again to the government headquarters. In its first year, Milei’s government reduced inflation from 211.4% in 2023 to 117.8% in 2024 and achieved a fiscal surplus, but the adjustment resulted in the loss of 200,000 jobs, the paralysis of public works and an increase in poverty and extreme poverty rates in Argentina Milei’s policy of liberalising prices doubled the cost of medicines and essential services in one year. Almost 60% of pensioners receive the minimum pension, equivalent to around R$1,970. Last year, the government froze a bonus of approximately R$406 for pensioners. As the Milei regime faces increasing opposition from ordinary Argentinians the question is how far will the state go in its willingness to attack Argentinian society? The post State attacks elderly protestors in Buenos Aires appeared first on Freedom News.

ORGANISATIONS’ JOINT DECLARATION CALLS FOR “ROBUST RESISTANCE” TO BUILD “A POPULAR, COLLECTIVE ALTERNATIVE” AND OPPOSE THE GOVERNMENT FROM BELOW ~ Sonia Muñoz-Llort ~ A year after the election of Javier Milei, four of Argentina’s anarchist organisations have released an analysis of his government’s “turbo-capitalist” program to “profoundly change the social, economic and political relations” in the country. The joint statement from Santa Cruz Anarchist Organization (OASC), Rosario Anarchist Federation (FAR), Anarchist Organization of Tucumán (OAT) and Anarchist Organization of Córdoba (OAC) also highlighted the “repression and criminalisation of popular resistance” accompanying the extreme-right economic program. To impose the labour reforms privatising different strategic areas of production and services, the government has been engaging a systematic plan to repress protests. “In alliance with the judiciary”, said the statement, “Milei’s government opened cases and arrested activists and union leaders, threatened workers who participated in strikes with dismissal, [and] organised media operations against workers in conflict”. The groups describe the impacts of Milei’s policies as a social catastrophe, which has worsened due to the rise in the price of basic necessities. The official unemployed population has reached more than 1.7 million, and over half the population is beneath the poverty line. 44.000 state workers have been dismissed and essential services in the health, education and retirement sectors are being de-funded. Another worrying concern is that parts of the social support system are increasingly being transferred to evangelical churches. This alliance between conservative and far-right sectors is destroying decades of efforts by the women’s and dissident movements. Not only are programs for the prevention and attention to sexist violence being dismantled, but a new anti-feminist crusade led by the government is promoting the public emergence of neo-fascist discourse. While the parliamentary opposition places all its hopes on the next election, the anarchists are calling for “a robust resistance” that takes the new context into account. By building bridges between those union groups and social organisations willing to turn to direct action as a strategy, and intensifying the mobilisations and strikes that have been ongoing since Milei’s takeover, they aim “to build a popular, collective alternative, for a better life for those at the bottom”. The post Argentina: Anarchists call for direct action to oppose Milei’s brutal policies appeared first on Freedom News.